Zodiac by Robert Graysmith Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Zodiac
Book Review: Graysmith might as well be the killer
Summary: 1 Stars
First and foremost the worst part about this book is the way Graysmith has written it. By using pseudonyms for just about everyone in the book keeping everyone straight with their real identities is nothing but a jumbled mess. And more so, its completely unneccesary now since everyone knows that Graysmith is trying to pin it on Arthur L. Allen. When they reprinted this for the movie they should have fixed this problem.
Additionally, this book seems to deal more with Robert Graysmith than the Zodiac killer. I'm not saying he's the Zodiac, I just think it's more than a bit odd.
Also, like so many have pointed out Graysmith plays it rather loose with the facts. Yes, this book can be entertaining. But so can Fox News. Neither of which are truthful.
Book Review: Have you heard of tunnel vision?
Summary: 1 Stars
This book is very disappointing. I was even appalled at the nerve of the author to re-release this book and identify the man he THINKS is the Zodiac killer after the man's death. The author actually demonstrates how an investigation can get botched with tunnel vision. A prime suspect is the sole focus and evidence is distorted any way it can be to "prove" this suspect is the Zodiac killer. There were other possible leads and suspects that were discounted by the author.
By the time you reach the middle of the book, you'll see it is already obvious who the author THINKS is the Zodiac killer. The rest of the book discounts other leads and suspects and focuses on "evidence" that "proves" the author has identified the Zodiac Killer. Very disheartening.
It should be noted the author is not an investigator and the identity of the Zodiac killer remains a mystery to this day. The author has NOT proven his "identification" of the Zodiac killer. This book is a shame.
Book Review: Hello.I think..
Summary: 5 Stars
It's so important to read and rate these things.They keep the memories of certain people alive.Dead family members.Darlene Ferrin is someone my Father's related too.Wonderful to see the name alive.True crime is not just thrillers and suspense my friends.It's family,Love,Hope,keeping names and people and the hope that life will go on,and crimes will be solved,alive.I have so much love for my family.I enjoyed Mr.Gyllenhaal's performance.Dave Toschi must have been a wonderful man and detective,truly it's wonderful that someone cares.I hope family members contact me. I hope you all read this book.I seem to remember it being wonderful.Chapter titles after the victims names,don't rule out Kathleen John's as a zodiac suspect.Or others though,based on the movie.Kathleen got a letter from the Zodiac she says.She died of Natural causes folks,let's hope it happens that way for everybody.Love yourselves,and others.Enjoy life.Love.Thanks for your time,VanesSa.Book Review: I wasn't expecting a novel when I bought this "true" crime book...
Summary: 1 Stars
When this novel first appeared in 1986, everyone assumed the author, Robert Graysmith, had honestly and accurately documented the unsolved case of the Zodiac murders. Nothing can be further from the truth.
I first noticed errors in his work as early as 1993, but assumed they were perhaps typos or he was a little mixed up with directions. I had known since 1991 that "Robert Hall Starr" was none other than Arthur Leigh Allen, the most well-known Zodiac suspect, and I knew he lived at 32 Fresno Street in Vallejo. After reading this novel thinly disguised as a non-fiction true crime book, I assumed, as did everyone else, that Allen lived close to Zodiac victim Darlene Ferrin (pp. 33, 293) and later moved to Santa Rosa (p. 268); since he was in Vallejo in the 1990's, I assumed he moved back. After unsuccessfully trying to locate his place of employment in Santa Rosa (which Graysmith described in detail, pp. 271-272, 277, 281, 305) in late 1994, I started looking at things in Vallejo. It was then that I realized how close 32 Fresno was to 1300 Virginia (where Darlene Ferrin lived, p. 16), and I wondered what the odds were against Allen living close to her in 1969, moving to Santa Rosa and then returning to the same general area in the 1980's or 90's. A little further checking into old directories for Vallejo revealed that Allen had never moved away!
It was then that everything began to unravel for Graysmith. I noticed as I looked back over old newspaper accounts that I had read much of the dialogue before; Graysmith lifted it straight from the newspaper stories without even giving anyone credit! But it didn't end there. His theories never made any sense, such as the infamous "projector theory" (pp. 218-219). He claimed that, after closely studying the April 1978 letter (which was ultimately found to be a forgery), the Zodiac Killer used a projector to trace over the writing of other people, so that, if his own writing was checked by law enforcement, there would be no match. Nice theory, however, how did the Zodiac use the projector to write on the car door of victim Bryan Hartnell (pp. 72, 76-77)? Not only that, if he was so certain in 1978 that the Zodiac was using a projector to disguise his writing, why was he just two years later trying to get samples of Arthur Leigh Allen's handwriting for expert Sherwood Morrill to examine (pp. 281-283), and why did he spend at least four years trying to do so (p. 305)? Graysmith claimed that Allen's writing "was the closest to the Zodiac printing that I had ever seen" (p. 281). If Allen was the Zodiac as Graysmith is trying to make everyone believe, what then was the point of Allen using a projector to disguise his writing when it looked just like the Zodiac's writing anyway?
It's absurdities like this that make this novel a waste of time if you're interested in the truth and the facts of the case, but it is totally entertaining on another level entirely as we watch Graysmith painting himself into corner after corner and sticking his foot in his mouth time and again.
One thing that bears special mention is how and, more importantly, when, Graysmith claims he first heard about Allen. In his 1986 version of the story (p. 260), he says it was on March 2nd, 1980, and he was asking Inspector Dave Toschi if any Zodiac suspects ever wrote to him. Toschi claimed Allen was the only one, and Graysmith details the conversation. In his 2002 followup novel, "Zodiac Unmasked" (pp. 181-182), Graysmith claims this conversation happened sometime after August 31st, 1977 (the day Allen was released from Atascadero) and before January 3rd, 1978; it is apparently early September 1977, and not only are the details of the conversation different than in his original version 16 years prior (though they still revolve around Graysmith inquiring as to whether any suspects ever wrote to Toschi), he now claims the time it happened was two and a half years earlier!
To top things off, we find in this 2007 reissue of "Zodiac" yet a third version of that conversation (p. 346)! In this case, the director of the new movie "Zodiac," David Fincher, is detailing how Graysmith became involved, and it had nothing to do with asking about suspects! The time is just prior to Allen's release from Atascadero, so it is July or August 1977, and Graysmith wants to help with the case so Toschi essentially enlists his aid and tells him to check out Allen in Vallejo!
So, Graysmith details three different versions of the conversation and gives three different dates as to when it allegedly happened, and he was one of the only two people who were there! What gives?
The answer is obvious, and if he can't be truthful about an incident that he himself participated in, then we know precisely what to expect from the rest of this novel. If you want to know the truth, then don't waste your time with this book. If you want to read a scary and entertaining piece of fiction, then this novel is just what you're looking for! Just don't confuse it with reality.
Oh, and I had to give it a one star rating because there are no zero star ratings.
Book Review: Incredible detail
Summary: 3 Stars
Robert Graysmith is no Vincent Bugliosi, but he does know more about the Zodiac killings than anybody else on the planet. The detail about each of the five known killings is incredible, and Graysmith unearths another killing that occurred in Riverside prior to the Zodiac killings that may have been committed by the same person. And he does come up with a likely suspect.
Prior to reading ZODIAC, I rented the David Fincher movie. I was expecting the movie to follow the book pretty closely, but there are some composite characters in the movie. Graysmith tells us about three main suspects; whereas, there were only two in the movie. Graysmith also speculates (pretty much believes) that Zodiac went right on killing after the murder of cab driver Paul Lee Stine. He lists 41 possible Zodiac murders, the last one occurring in 1981. Graysmith also had access to the Zodiac letters in which the murderer claimed credit for many more murders than those generally attributed to him.
Graysmith has some annoying habits. For one thing, he describes every stitch of clothing one of the early murder victims is wearing. He's also awfully skittish about using real names. So many people are given pseudonyms this might as well be fiction. Later on he goes into elaborate detail about the phases of the moon, and how the Zodiac could have been planning his murderers to correspond with them. Then there's the sycophantic description of Filcher's movie as an addendum to the book. Here's Graysmith's description of Filcher's attention to detail: "His eye is calculating, more precise than any mechanical optics."
Something else that I find puzzling was the police's inability to keep track of two of the victims who lived through Zodiac attacks, Mike Mageau and Kathleen Johns. Kathleen got a really good look at him. I would have liked to see a "where are they now" epilogue concerning some of the major characters. Mageau is barely mentioned, strange since he supposedly identified the man who tried to kill him. I would imagine that's covered in ZODIAC UNMASKED, the follow-up.